As promised....

Here are the pictures from our recent trip out to California, It was a great little getaway. Hopefully we will get to do it all again super soon.
For the first half of our trip we stayed in good ole' Porterville, Cort's old stomping ground. I got to go to the Relief Society broadcast with Cort's mom and Grandma, our first night there. All of the speakers talks were so good. But it was President Uchtdorf's remarks that really got me thinking. one of the things he talked about was happiness and how even in tough times we can find happiness. One of the things he said that really stood out to me was at the end of his talk when he said "In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance." Thanks Luann and Ann, I really apprecioated going with you.

Here's some of the other fun things we did while we where there.

On Sunday we had a barbeque with Cort's family and the Farmers, some of Cort's old friends from back in the day. They have a boy and a girl about Taylor and Chase's same age, so that was fun for them. I love how kids can just get together and it's like they play together everyday.
Here's Chase and Easton.

and here's Taylor and Maddy

Talan got really good at walking while we where there. It's so cute to see him go. He kind of does a little swagger (is that a word) when he walks. It totally makes me smile and a little nervous. I keep thinking he's going to fall, but he usually is pretty good at catching himself. When did he get so BIG?

Here's Tay with her grandma watching a movie together in their pjs. These two really do have a special relationship. Tay just beams when she's with her Grandma.

After a couple of days in Porterville we headed for Disneyland. The first day down there we decided to stop and let the kids play at the beach. We were told about this really cool beach at Laguna Beach, so that's where we went. (Thanks Buchanan's for the tip.) When we first got there it was a little chilly, not bad, but definitely NOT swimming weather. We got out of the car and started walking down to the beach when Taylor and Chase started begging us to let them put their swimsuits on. I couldn't believe it. They are such die hards. The water was quite chilly and no one was really getting in....expect our kids, oh and the surfers with their wet suits on. Taylor and Chase had a blast, wading in the water, and splashing around. It was such a fun spot, it had these huge tide pools, with hermit crabs, everywhere, and seashells, which was Tay's favorite part. We originally thought we'd only be there for like a hour tops, but I think we ended up staying there for at least a couple hours, if not longer.



Chase was loving the seagulls. He chased them all over the place.

The next two following days we did Disneyland. The kids were so excited. The first day there I couldn't believe it, we were WALKING ONTO THE RIDES!! I think I was more excited about that then the actually rides. We had such a good time. Cort took the boys back to the room around 3:00 that first day, so me and Tay got to spend some quality time together just the two of us.

Talan was such a trooper the whole time. Here he is in the carrier fast asleep taking his nap.

Taylor kept calling all the little rides like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Snow White, roller coasters. She had no interest in the real ones. Here we are on the teas cups. The one thing that she said she HAD to do.

Our second day there Cort's parents drove down to join us. Thanks grandma and grandpa. We did Finding Nemo, Pirates again (one of my personal favorites) and the Haunted Mansion with them, among others. Chase was so funny both times on Pirates. We decided before we left that Chase was going to be Captain Jack Sparrow for halloween. Well, everytime we saw Captain Jack, Chase would scream out "there me!" We also took turns with grandma and grandpa, going on two of my other personal favorites Indiana Jones and Tower of Terror. Chase was soooo bummed out that he couldn't ride the Tower of terror with us. He just didn't meet the height requirement. We had to promise him next time for sure when we was a little bit taller. He just kept saying "I biggeer."

A highlight for Taylor was when we stumbled upon the princess hair and make-up salon. We had them do her hair and paint her face. She was in heaven. When the lady asked her what color flowers and ribbon she wanted in her hair she said "yellow and red," her favorite. Well, the lady then assumed that, that's what she wanted on her face as well, well Taylor was quick to tell her that she wanted her brothers favorite colors green and blue on her face. What cute kids. They are always thinking of one another, it melts my heart.


When we asked Chase who he wanted to meet he said only Goofy. I didn't even know that he really knew who Goofy was. Well, we are all about making dreams come true in the Welker household, so here we are in Toon Town with good ole Goofy.

We got to meet a lot of the charaters and Taylor got a lot of their autographs. Here's the gang with Minnie all dressed up for the holiday.

So sad when it was time to go, the kids actually shed many tears as we were packing up Friday morning. I am so grateful for times like these, being with family is just simply the best.